These projects protect and restore Hawai‘i’s natural systems, which serve as the state’s first line of defense against the negative impacts of climate change and disasters.
Environmental Stewardship
Hawaiʻi Island cesspool conversion batches modeled on Hōnaunau pilot
Fund a repeatable batch-conversion model for Hawaiʻi Island cesspools, building on the Green Fee-funded $1 million cesspool pilot at Hōnaunau. Hawaiʻi Island has about 48,600 of the state's roughly 83,000 cesspools, releasing about 29 million gallons of untreated wastewater a day. A UH Hilo dye study at Puakō found sewage from shoreline homes reaching the ocean in as little as 6 hours. What it funds: Batch conversions in two or three more Priority 1 reef areas on Hawaiʻi Island (for example, South Kona, North Kohala/Puakō area, and a Hawaiian Home Lands homestead off the sewer line, such as Panaʻewa or Makuʻu). Neighbors upgrade together, so one engineer, one permit package, and one crew cover a whole street. Batching is how we'll find out how far the cost per home can come down. The full conversion cost for the 100 participating households, so families pay nothing up front. Where a family qualifies for the new state Cesspool Conversion Revolving Loan Fund, that loan lowers what the Green Fee has to cover. Hawaiʻi County has no cesspool grant today; the earlier DOH $20,000 pilot grant has closed. A local coordination team that signs homeowners up, gets the paperwork loan- and grant-ready, schedules engineers and licensed contractors, and reports progress. Public results: homes converted, cost per home, sewage gallons kept out of the ocean, water-quality changes and reef impact, feeding the Green Fee monitoring dashboard. Suggested scale: a fixed goal of 100 homes over FY28–29, with a budget of $7.5 million to $10 million. Where it lands depends on how much batching and economies of scale bring the cost per home down. Hawaiʻi County estimates a single conversion at $30,000 to $70,000, and the budget is set so all 100 homes get done even on hard sites, including coordination, homeowner support, engineering oversight, and water-quality monitoring. The long-term goal is to drive the cost low enough that every conversion can be fully funded by government programs at no cost to the homeowner. Any money not needed goes back to the Green Fee, and cost per home will be reported publicly so the state learns what an island-wide program really costs. Delivered with DLNR, DOH, and DHHL, building on the Hōnaunau pilot. Why the Green Fee: this protects coral reefs and nearshore water that residents and visitors both use, and it turns a 2050 legal deadline that most families can't afford into a funded, step-by-step program. Submitted by ʻĀina Force LLC (Hawaiʻi Island cesspool conversion coordination). Contact: rahul@ainaforce.com, (808) 663-9283.
Funding Appropriated
Public-private watershed management, Statewide
Support all public-private watershed partnerships and any coordinating bodies of them, to help sustain fieldwork, outreach and awareness of statewide watershed efforts by supporting positions to implement cohesive strategic planning and implementation across watersheds.
Funding Appropriated
Pilihe‘e Fishpond Restoration
Baseline documentation and permitting for the restoration of Pilihe‘e Fishpond. Support for skilled traditional fishpond practitioners to restore Phase 1 of Pilihe‘e fishpond with the expected benefit of sand accumulation and protection of a critically threatened section of Kamehameha Highway in Kualoa, O‘ahu. Provides an alternative method to shoreline hardening, and expands HDOT's available tools to address Hawai‘i's most critical shoreline and coastal highway erosion issues statewide. If this pilot project is successful, HDOT could replicate this model of support for community fishpond restoration on each island with numerous co-benefits of food, culture, ecosystem health & jobs.
Funding Appropriated
Supporting community driven, Marine Resources Resiliency Planning (Holomua Initiative)
The Holomua Marine Initiative brings communities and the Division of Aquatic Resources together to create management frameworks that prioritize participation, cultural relevance, and measurable outcomes.
Funding Appropriated
Plant Extinction Prevention Program
Request to Add Funds for the Plant Extinction Prevention Program
Funding Appropriated
Na Manu Elele Makai (Environmental Ambassador program)
Engaging and educating visitors through community-led outreach is key to reducing tourism impacts and protecting Hawaiʻi’s natural and cultural resources. This program will hire local ambassadors at high-traffic sites such as Pūpūkea MLCD, Hāʻena CBSFA, and ʻĀhihi-Kīnaʻu NAR to provide on-the-ground education about ecological and cultural significance while promoting sustainable visitor practices.
Funding Appropriated
Maui Nui Endangered Species Predator Control
Request to Add Funds for Maui Nui Endangered Species Predator Control
Funding Appropriated
Makai Watch Program Expansion
This project directly supports the protection and management of Hawaiʻi’s marine and coastal resources through collaboration with more than 20 active community groups statewide. By serving as the “eyes and ears” of their communities, Makai Watch volunteers assist DOCARE in identifying and reporting illegal activities, strengthening enforcement presence and resource protection. Makai Watch volunteers educate visitors on fishing rules, marine life etiquette, and cultural stewardship practices, improving visitor awareness and behavior. Several groups also conduct community monitoring to track visitor impacts, providing DLNR with valuable data that informs site management, restoration, and maintenance efforts.
Funding Appropriated
Green Fee Community Stewardship (nearshore marine environments): Supporting community co-management for coral reef resilience
Support for community-based marine management and ridge-to-reef initiatives to manage fisheries and coral reef habitat for coastal resilience, working collaboratively with state agencies. Funding will support outreach, education, monitoring, improved enforcement, and restoration efforts to implement community ʻāina-based stewardship initiatives, in priority sites such as Kaupūlehu, Heʻeia, Kīholo, Kīpahulu - East Maui, Miloli‘i - South Kona, Hōnaunau, Pu‘u Kukui and Honolua, Hā‘ena, Limahuli, Maunalua Bay, Niu Valley - Maunalua, Niu Valley - Kaua‘i, and more.
Funding Appropriated
Green Fee Community Stewardship (muliwai): Restore wetlands, anchialine ponds, and riparian zones with community partners, for flood control, habitat improvement, and coastal resiliency
Funding to restore Hawaiʻi’s culturally significant wetlands, anchialine ponds, and riparian zones through invasive species removal, native habitat rehabilitation, waterway restoration, and regenerative food production. Each initiative strengthens community stewardship by engaging residents, students, and visitors in hands-on restoration, cultural education, and sustainable land-based practices that improve ecological resilience, water quality, biodiversity, and food security - reviving ancestral landscapes, protecting endangered ecosystems, and rebuilding enduring relationships between people and ʻāina statement in key priority geographies such as Ulopō Nui, Ka‘ehu, Hulē‘ia, Niu Valley - O‘ahu, Maunawili - Oʻahu; Palehua, Kīholo and more
Funding Appropriated
Green Fee Community Stewardship (coral restoration): Supporting community driven coral and coastal restoration initiatives for coastal resilience and storm protection
Funding to support community-based coral restoration areas, limu restoration, and innovation in finance to bolster coastal resilience, flood control, storm protection and to complement existing upstream restoration work with downstream coral planting to strengthen resilience across the ahupuaʻa and ensure coral recovery is positioned for success, including through partnerships with mauna-based restoration groups such as watershed partnerships to engage community in the process, through involvement of communities in decision-making, feedback, and active restoration, and through unique financing innovations such as storm damage reef insurance policy
Funding Appropriated
Funding to update the Hawaiʻi Water Conservation Plan
Funding would support the update of the Hawaiʻi Water Water Conservation Plan (2013). The update would involve re-evaluating the state's water use profiles, cataloguing public and private water supply conservation and water shortage plans, evaluating current water conservation progams, and revising the State's water conservation program elements.
Funding Appropriated
Funding to Update of the Hawaiʻi Drought Plan
Funding would support the update of the Hawai‘i Drought Plan, which was last updated in 2017. New data, risk analysis, and drought impact sector participation would be included. We anticipate coordinating with the Pacific Drought Knowledge Exchange and the National Drought Mitigation Center, as well as organizations and individuals in the water supply, agriculture & commerce, and the environment, public health and safety sectors. This plan would focus on drought mitigation as well as drought response actions.
Funding Appropriated
Endangered Plant Seed Banking
Request to Add Funds for Endangered Plant Seed Banking
Funding Appropriated
Endangered Forest Bird Mosquito Abatement
Request to Add Funds for Endangered Forest Bird Mosquito Abatement
Funding Appropriated
Threatened and Endangered Seabird Colony Management and Recovery on Kauaʻi
Request to Add Funds for Threatened and Endangered Seabird Colony Management and Recovery on Kauaʻi
Funding Appropriated
Seabird Habitat Protection Through Invasive Species Control on Kaua‘i Offshore Islets
Request to Add Funds for Seabird Habitat Protection Through Invasive Species Control on Kaua‘i Offshore Islets
Funding Appropriated
Funding for Hydrologic Studies and Research
Funding would support a range of hydrologic studies and research including modeling to revise aquifer sustainable yields, assessing the accuracy of hydrologic boundaries for specific aquifer systems, as well as studies to understand deep confined aquifers.
Funding Appropriated
Hawaiʻi Association of Watershed Partnerships Support
The Hawai‘i Association of Watershed Partnerships is seeking funds to help sustain coordination, outreach and awareness of statewide watershed efforts. We are seeking funds to support positions to implement cohesive strategic planning and implementation across watersheds.